Siemens SL56
Average Ratings
I've had better
This is the first Siemens I've owned and I'm not impressed. Yeah it's small and cute but when I scroll through my addressbook, another button will be accidentally hit and close me out of it. The reception is no good. Every store I go into, I get switched to another carrier. I get irritated that I have to treat calls in these circumstances as long distance ones. When I AM talking to someone on the phone, I hear clicking noises and the other person says I'm cutting in and out. That's no matter WHERE I am. I can be driving in the middle of town and lose signal so my call is disconnected. VERY FRUSTRATING !!! Especially when you're conducting business. I's like to get another phone but I feel guilty because my husband dropped $300 on it for my b-day. I have never been able to figure out "voice dialing" Way harder to program than my Motorola V60 was.
Pros---hmmmmmmm hmmmmmmmm
ringtones are cool but I've heard other phones with ones I like better w/o having to purchase them.
Not worth the price
I have sold several of these phones for SunCom. More than have have come back with the same probs.
Most have come back for poor reception. Others have come back for slide malfunction.
It is a huge dissapointment being that this phone has awesome features. It has unique ringtones that even consist of animal sounds. The clock is able to set to different worldwide timezones.
The look of this phone is sleek and upper class looking.
With improved reception this would be an awesome phone. Maybe they can come out with a new model with these improvements.
this phone sucks!
i have owned a handful of cell phones, all with at&t.
this phone will have to be the worst phone i have ever owned!
i paid 150 for it... the worst 150 bucks i've ever spent.
Practically no reception indoors, horrible outdoors, many, many dropped calls, lousy connectivity and the keys tend to go bad too!
WORST PHONE EVER!
WORST phone I ever had!!
This phone has horrible reception,& horrible features. The only half way decent thing about this phone is the speaker in it, which Siemens has been pretty good at providing with its phones. Otherwise, I would NOT recommend anyone buy this phone.
Good, But Not Great Phone
I have been using this phone for approximately 3 weeks. Although the package is extremely attractive, I found it very bothersome that the "proslide" cannot be deactivated. Also, I find it intrusive that an adapter needs to be purchased in order to utilize a headset and charger simultaneously.
All in all, the SL56 is a good phone. But not a great phone.
EXCELLENT PACKAGE!
Got an SL56 to replace my ageing (but still GREAT) Nokia 8890. The choice was obvious - a "slide" phone - but one that is even more compact than the nokia. I am on TMobile so it was somewhat of an endeavour for me to get the SL56 since they are ALL locked to Cingular. The SL55 is unlocked but WAY TOO MUCH MONEY! So, I went to a Cingular store, bought the phone and had it unlocked by someone I found on EBay.
Anyway, the color screen is superb. Menus are logical and easy to use. (ALMOST AS EASY AS NOKIA MENUS) And it is very "well-built" - does NOT come accross as flimsy, cheesy or anything else. Solid construction for sure, which is important. So far, battery life is solid. The ONE gripe I DO have is accessories....there seem to be almost NONE! I was hoping to get a leather case and an over-the-ear hands-free. Looks like I will have to wait for a while for a better selection to hit the market!
Summary - A very nice, well-built, user-friendly, eye-catching, TINY cell phone. I say "GET ONE!!!!"
Disapointing
Fist of all this is my 3rd Siemens phone. And i must say I'm really disappointed.
Cons= At this price range i cannot believe how spartan it is. I mean c'mon!! Man this phone cost me almost $250! And compared to my Sony Ericsson T616 the SL56 is so lacking! The phone feels so flimsy. No 65k screen. The ringtones are so weird and uncool. I mean this is supposed to be a "Cool Phone" and it sucks big time! Is so small that its flips out of my sling-pack at every moment. Graphics are crappy and just horrible. The quality of the screen is terrible. The scratchy slide design seems after though. Battery life is dismal. Text messaging in this phone is a chore. The keypad doesn't seems to respond to the commands.
Pros= Cute and in cuteness it has NO competition. Its a chick magnet! Ring-tone volume and speaker-phone is excellent. Very loud. Unique styling! Reminds me of my previous Motorola V70, No brains, all cuteness.
GREAT PHONE
I have tried this phone for a few days now and I love it so far. I love the size and the way you slide works. This is a great little phone for the younger people for the size.
the ringers are also good. the display can be a little better but for the price and the size you cant be beat.
Insanity
I live in San Francisco, and travel to Sacramento frequently. I just switched from Sprint PCS to AT&T and got the SL56 because it was very small and I liked its looks. That is all it has going for it.
This phone gets almost zero signal. None in my parents house, none walking down the street, none in any sort of building. There was an accident on 280 last week and I tried to dial 911 but I got an error message. But I could still call my house?! People call me and get a quick busy signal tone. I'm standing in the parking lot of a Sacramento mall and can't get a connection. It's just stupid. You would have to be crazy to get this phone/and or provider in the Northern California area.
I've had Sanyo/Samsung phones for quite awhile now. My last non-Asian phone was a Nokia 5600-type in the latter 90's. Sanyo was my favorite. What I don't like about the Samsungs I've had is they place the internet connect button dead center on the arrow keypad instead of the "okay" which should be there. But this Siemens phone is not at all intuitive. It's laid out very poorly. The buttons feel plasticy. Overall quality is very poor and it just doesn't have anything going for it other than looks and the slider feature. So if you plan on using your phone, this one isn't for you. I read the reviews from many sites and decided to try it anyway. I'm very sorry I did and it's turned me off to the whole GSM thing here in Northern California. I'm leaving AT&T after less than 2 weeks to try Verizon.
To own it is to love it !
Pros: Size, ingenious "slide" design, enough features to accomodate anyone, polymorphic ringtones, good looking, great design, a great conversation piece. Everyone wants to know where I got it.
Cons: None yet!
My carrier is AT&T and I live in the Washington, DC area. I have been with AT&T for three years and have been satisfied for the most part. I was on their older protocol TDMA, which they are phasing out and when I saw this phone it was a "must have."
However it uses the GSM protocol, which AT&T is migrating too but not fully built out on their network, so coverage is not yet equal to TDMA.
So far, no problems but I know the coverage is not yet equal. On the other hand, GSM is $20 a month cheaper than TDMA.
If you are changing phones or carriers you should check this puppy out! AT&T will let you try it for 30 days and if you are disappointed, they have a "no questions, no hassles" 30 day return policy.
You can see or buy it at either AT&T or Cingular.
This phone has it all.
